Author: staff
On the morning of Wednesday 7 October, Italian motorists were met with an unpleasant surprise. The cut in fuel excise duty that in previous months had partly limited the rise in diesel prices was not renewed (source in Italian), resulting in immediate price increases at the pump. Eni price cap effectively stripped of its impact By the time it expired at midnight, the measure was worth only 6.1 cents per litre, having fallen over time from the initial discount. In its place, the Meloni government had floated the possibility of introducing a system of tax rebates that would be financed…
Emirates says it is operating at around 93% of its pre-disruption capacity, as winter bookings strengthen following a turbulent year for airlines flying through the Middle East. The Dubai-based airline carried more than 8.6 million passengers in July and August. It said summer demand “exceeded expectations”, with momentum “continuing to build” as the winter travel period approaches. Bookings for the winter season, which begins in late October, are “tracking positively”, Emirates said, despite passengers “making travel decisions closer to departure”. Demand from markets including South Africa, Brazil, India, Portugal and Saudi Arabia is currently ahead of last year, according to…
Published on 07/10/2026 – 11:49 GMT+2 What is it they say about one person’s misfortune…? Well, Melania Trump’s staff seem to be embracing that opportunistic sentiment with regards to Digger ’s woes at the box office. As reported earlier this week, Oscar-winning director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Digger, starring Tom Cruise as a powerful oil tycoon who has triggered an environmental disaster, made just $8 million in the US and $20 million in total globally in its opening weekend. Considering Digger had a production budget of up to $180m (plus hefty marketing), this means the divisive film is on track to…
„Ich möchte, dass er mit einem möglichst starken Mandat dieses Hauses dorthin reist“, sagte Hilde Vautmans, die Verfasserin des Berichts, am Dienstagabend in einer Debatte. „Europa verfügt über wirtschaftliche Macht. Es ist an der Zeit, diese einzusetzen.“ Die Äußerung deckt sich mit Positionen, die Bundeskanzler Friedrich Merz und Frankreichs Präsident Emmanuel Macron Anfang der Woche in einem gemeinsamen Papier vereinbart haben. Sie sprechen sich dafür aus, der EU-Kommission mehr Befugnisse zu geben, um Importe aus Ländern, die „schwerwiegende und systematische Verzerrungen“ in der EU verursachen, zu beschränken oder sogar zu unterbinden. Mehrere Europaabgeordnete lobten die gemeinsame Haltung der beiden größten…
Published on 07/10/2026 – 11:33 GMT+2•Updated 11:49 Russia destroyed an apartment block in northern Ukraine as a birthday “gift” to Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday, after overnight missile and drone strikes killed at least 12 people across the country, according to Ukrainian officials. “Today, as a birthday ‘gift’ to Putin, the Russian army destroyed a residential building in Pryluky, in the Chernihiv region,” the Ukrainian president wrote on social media. Putin turned 74 on Wednesday. Nine people, including three children, were killed and 34 wounded when a missile hit the five-storey building, Interior Minister Ihor Vyhivskyi said. “There…
By Sait Burak Utucu & Euronews Turkish Published on 07/10/2026 – 12:12 GMT+2•Updated 12:12 İzmir Mayor Cemil Tugay joined President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s AK Party on Wednesday, shocking the Turkish left and handing the ruling party a symbolic prize it has failed to win in elections three times in a row. Erdoğan presented Tugay — who ran for mayor as centre-left CHP party candidate two years ago — with an AK Party badge at the party’s Ankara headquarters on Wednesday morning and welcomed him in a speech to MPs at the opening of the legislative year. “İzmir is different today. Very enthusiastic,” Erdoğan…
Published on 07/10/2026 – 10:14 GMT+2 The days when governments could lean on cheap money and fast growth to keep their debts in check are over, according to the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), who called for spending discipline and tighter monetary policy around the world. Speaking in Singapore on Wednesday, ahead of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Bangkok next week, Kristalina Georgieva said policymakers “can no longer rely on higher growth rates alone to solve fiscal problems”. Worldwide public debt is close to levels last seen after World War II and could top 100%…
It’s Kemi Badenoch’s big day at the Conservative Party conference – but it’s not just the adoring party faithful she has to impress. Sam Coates and Anne McElvoy look at how the leader’s speech will land with both voters and party donors – in what she’s calling a “battle for the soul of the country”. There are already signs the Tories’ finances are not in the shape they need to be to fight an election on two fronts – with our hosts picking up clues from the conference hall in Birmingham. Plus, Sam and Anne check in on the state…
Published on 07/10/2026 – 10:58 GMT+2•Updated 11:00 EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič heads to Beijing on Wednesday for two days of talks aimed at rebalancing trade relations that Brussels sees as heavily skewed in China’s favour. His meetings with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao come as the EU’s trade deficit with China has reached a record €1 billion a day – and an October deadline for progress approaches. The Commission opened negotiations in June to address what officials describe as trade-distorting Chinese exports, giving Beijing until October to deliver “tangible” results. At the heart of the talks is access to…
Russia has asked Vietnam to lease its passenger jets complete with crews and maintenance, as the fleet it seized from Western lessors in 2022 deteriorates and nearly a fifth of the country’s largest airlines’ planes sit grounded. Transport Minister Andrei Nikitin said Moscow had proposed that Vietnamese carriers transfer aircraft to Russian airlines under wet lease — an arrangement that covers jets, crew, maintenance and insurance — and that Hanoi was studying the proposal. Vietnam’s main carrier exclusively operates Airbus and Boeing aircraft, meaning any transfer to Russia would involve Western-built planes. That creates the same secondary sanctions risk that…